


Broken and Reborn

by ArtemisLiCa



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25216207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisLiCa/pseuds/ArtemisLiCa
Summary: After months in Naraku's hands, Kagome is rescued by Sesshomaru. However, rescuing does not save her and when he does save her, the changes are more than either of them ever anticipated.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Sesshoumaru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 139





	Broken and Reborn

**Author's Note:**

> Brief mentions/description of torture and mention of suicide, nothing too graphic or explicit.

Sesshomaru followed the curve of the tunnel holding Bakusaiga out in front of him. He would find Rin and kill any who stood in his way. He stopped as the tunnel opened up into a wide cavern filled with natural light. There were several openings leading off the cavern where sunlight streamed in. 

What made him stop was the  dark-haired figure in chains on the floor. 

He watched as the boy Naraku controlled, Kohaku, held the figure’s head up enough to allow her to sip the water he was giving her. It took a moment for her scent to reach him for him to recognize his half-brother’s miko. She was badly beaten and her face was covered with her dark hair and several cuts and bruises in various stages of healing. 

He took another step forward and the boy jerked to his feet with a fearful, guilty look on his face. He seemed relieved to see Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru raised a brow at that. 

The figure on the floor tilted her head back to look at him from her place on the floor. 

“Sesshomaru,” Kagome croaked out. She looked back to Kohaku. “He’ll show you where Rin is and help you get her out of here. Please take him with you. I managed to purify the shard in his back. He’s not under Naraku’s control any more. Please. Help him leave too.”

“No, Kagome,” Kohaku said with tears in his eyes. “What will happen to you if I-?”

“Go! Help Rin. There’s nothing more you can do for me,” Kagome said, her voice falling to a whisper as tears leaked down her temples into her hair. She closed her eyes and turned her head back to a more comfortable position.

Sesshomaru considered the scene in front of him. Instead of begging for him to save her own life, she wanted him to help the boy and to find Rin. His brother truly was a fool to choose the dead one over such a woman.

Sesshomaru came into the cavern before the boy could move. He lifted his sword and brought it down on the chains. He frowned when nothing happened but sparks flying. After a moment, he sheathed his sword and use his acid to melt the metal cuffs on the ends of the chains, careful to not get the acid on the girl he was freeing. 

Once he had her free of the cuffs, he looked to her face and saw she’d passed out. He picked her up, causing her to whimper in pain even without regaining consciousness. He nodded to the boy to lead the way, which he happily did. 

It took only a few short minutes to find Rin. She was locked behind a wooden door and smiled happily as she bounced out of the cell, completely unharmed. She frowned at the girl in Sesshomaru’s arms, then looked up at him seriously. 

“She saved me, Lord Sesshomaru,” Rin said quietly. “They were going to hurt me, but she said mean things to them so they hurt her instead.” Tears shimmered in Rin’s eyes. “Please, Lord Sesshomaru, can we wait until she’s better before we give her back to them?”

Sesshomaru looked down at the girl in his arms and then back to his ward. 

“Come,” he said, turning back down the tunnel the way he’d come. He heard only one set of footsteps behind him, then they paused.

“Kohaku, aren’t you coming?” Rin asked.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed,” Kohaku whispered.

Sesshomaru didn’t stop walking. “Kohaku, Rin. I’ll not say it again.”

Rin took Kohaku’s hand and they both followed after the demon lord.

Sesshomaru set the unconscious woman down on the soft bedding and turned to greet the healers coming into the room. “See to any and all of her injuries. When finished, one of you will report to me in my study.”

He strode from the room before the strange pang in his chest could make him stay. 

Sesshomaru worked through the paperwork on his desk for several hours and still he’d not seen a healer to report to him on the miko’s injuries. Could she really be that badly injured? How long had she been held captive by Naraku? 

A timid knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts.

“Enter.” 

One of the healers came in, a thin woman covered in a  blood-soaked dress. “My Lord.” She bowed.

“What do you have to report?” Sesshomaru demanded as he set aside the document he’d been reading.

The older woman blinked back tears. “Everything has been done to that poor girl short of rape and cutting off body parts. She’s been beaten, yes. But also, she’s missing several of her nails from both hands and feet. She has parts of her skin flayed off on her thighs and upper arms. There are cuts and burn marks all over her body. The amount of scarring the girl will have is-”

“How long has she been there?” Sesshomaru asked, keeping his stoic mask in place as the elderly healer wiped away tears. 

“From the bruises and the healing of some of the injuries, at least a month, but more likely closer to two months,” the healer said, clearing her throat. 

Sesshomaru sat back in his chair. His fool of a brother had been unable to locate her for two months? What has he been doing for all that time? If Sesshomaru could find Naraku’s lair, even if the half-breed wasn’t there, why couldn’t his idiot brother manage it?

He turned his attention back to the healer. “When will she wake?”

“We’ve given her medicines to keep her unconscious,” the healer replied. “I would suggest keeping her that way for at least the next two weeks as we treat the worst of her injuries. The areas with the skin flayed off and some of the burns are infected. Deliberately.” She cringed just thinking about it.

“Deliberately?” Sesshomaru asked.

She nodded. “There is gravel and dirt deep in the wounds. Too deep for just brushing against a dirt or stone floor while writhing in pain. The only way these could have been so deeply dirtied is if someone ground dirt into the wounds.”

Sesshomaru suppressed a growl. It was not the first time he’d heard reports on the status of someone who’d been tortured, but never had he heard of someone deliberately getting wounds infected. Nor had the person that had been tortured ever been someone who had save the life of his ward on several occasions. 

“She is to receive the best treatment,” Sesshomaru said. “Save every part of her you can and minimize as much scarring as possible.”

“Yes, my Lord,” the healer said and bowed, hearing the dismissal in her lord’s tone. 

As soon as he was alone, Sesshomaru stood and walked to the window and looked out at the rising sun. His thoughts focused on the injured miko sleeping in a bedroom only a few doors down from his own. Whatever Fate or Kami decided to place the miko in his brother’s protection had a lot to answer for. 

Having heard the miko was finally awake and had finished her meal, Sesshomaru walked to the bedroom she was in and walked right in. She was sitting up in bed wearing a simple white and blue yukata staring off at nothing.

He frowned. “Miko.”

Her eyes focused and turned to him. She gave him a slight smile. “Sesshomaru. Thank you for saving me.”

“Hn.” His gaze took in her face and what he could see of her body. She’d been unconscious for three weeks as the healers fought the infection in her body. She had a few small cuts on her face he could tell were likely to become scars despite the healers’ best efforts. There were burn scars lining the inner forearm of one arm. The other arm held more cuts, deeper than the others. “How do you feel?”

Kagome blinked and her smile wobbled then steadied. “I have a request for you. It may seem ungrateful, but I would truly appreciate it if you would consider it.”

“You can wait until you are fully healed to be returned to-”

“Kill me.”

The shock was enough it nearly broke through his carefully emotionless mask. His eyes widened just the smallest bit before he controlled his expression once more. “Explain.”

Kagome sighed and her gaze drifted up to the ceiling. “It wasn’t just Naraku who tortured me. Kikyo tortured me as well.”

“The dead miko was there?”

Kagome nodded but kept her gaze on the ceiling. “For all they tortured my body and mind, they tortured my soul worse,” she whispered. A tear trailed down her cheek to be impatiently brushed away. “They used Kanna’s mirror and pulled my soul most of the way out of my body and then tortured my soul. Mainly Kikyo as she used her reiki to cut and burn my soul.” 

Her gaze trailed down from the ceiling to meet his and he was startled to see rage burning in her eyes, not listless apathy he would have thought given her request. 

“I can never accept being a powerless human,” Kagome said. “I’m too used to being able to do something more. But I’ll never be able to use reiki again without thinking of her and what she did to me. Then there’s the fact that I’ll never be able to look at my friends without thinking of the horrific illusions they showed me of horrible things happening to them. 

“I’m broken,” she continued, her voice dropping down to a whisper again. “I’m so very broken. And parts of me will never heal. And to be honest, thinking of how much pain it will take to heal… I don’t want to. I’m tired of pain. I’m tired of all of it. They took so much away from  me; I’ll never be the same and I don’t want to be who I’ll have to become to be healed.” She let her tears fall freely then.

Sesshomaru stared at her, taking in all that she’d said and remembering all that his healers had said. Two months of torture to her body, mind and soul. Was it any wonder she wanted to die? 

He turned to leave. “I will consider your request.”

Later that night, Sesshomaru stood in the darkened bedroom staring down at the sleeping miko. She was curled up in a ball on her side with the sheets thrown off of her. He saw a darkened patch of skin on her upper thigh and knew it was one of the flayed patches. His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. In the darkened room, in her slumber, he could see the pain on her face and wondered if it were physical, mental or spiritual. What part of her hurt the most still? 

His gaze drifted over her face. Her soft skin, littered with small scars. The fan of dark lashes resting on her cheek. The ebony tresses framing her face. 

He thought over his options. He could give her what she requested. But was that the best thing he could do for her? For it could not change anything for the better. 

Sesshomaru thought carefully. Was there perhaps a better option?

Kagome woke slowly, fighting to hold on to one of the few good dreams she’d had in a long time. She blinked her eyes open and frowned at the pain. Not at how much there was, but rather at how little. Then she remembered, Sesshomaru had saved her. She wasn’t sure she could be grateful, at least until he agreed to her request. She’d much rather die at his hands than Naraku’s. Or Kikyo’s.

Her frown deepened. Where was she?

“You are awake, Miko?”

Kagome turned to the voice. Sesshomaru stood at the head of the cot she lay on. Looking around, she was in some kind of large hut with herbs and books and strange smells. Her nose wrinkled at the pungent odor as she nodded. A woman came into the room from a back room.

“Ah, here we are,” the woman said. She looked Kagome over critically. 

“Where are we?” Kagome whispered to Sesshomaru as she sat up.

“This is Chiyoko, a sorceress,” Sesshomaru said. 

“Why are we here?” Kagome asked, confused.

“Tortured body is for the healers,” Chiyoko said. “Tortured soul, well, you end up here.” She shrugged.

Kagome studied the sorceress. She was what would be considered middle-aged in the present, maybe in her 30s or 40s. She had black hair pulled up in a messy bun with a lot of flyaways and she was wearing three layers of kimonos. The inner most was gray, or perhaps white, it was hard to tell in the little light in the hut. Then there was a dark blue kimono and the outermost kimono was purple with white flowers. She looked competent and no-nonsense. 

“You brought me here to…what? Heal my soul?” Kagome asked, still confused.

“Hn. This one will not consider your request until all steps have been taken to heal you,” Sesshomaru said in a cool, flat tone.

Kagome thought about it and nodded. “So, what do we do? They used a mirror to pull my soul out to torture it.” She looked but didn’t see a mirror anywhere.

Chiyoko shook her head. “You’ll drink this and lay back and then I’ll take a look.”

With a nervous glance at Sesshomaru, Kagome drank the mixture the sorceress gave her. She gagged, but at Chiyoko’s insistence she drank the whole cup. Then she laid back down on the cot and, despite having just woken, her eyes slowly drifted closed. 

Chiyoko nodded and pushed her sleeves back. She held her hands out over the girl’s body and waited for the soul to rise up so she could take a good look. Not many had the ability to torture the soul directly. She was curious what state the girl’s soul was going to be in.

Chiyoko gasped at the wispy, raggedy form that rose from the girl. She could tell the girl had a huge soul and that she was filled with power, but the sight of the marks on the soul caused from the torture… Suddenly, she let the soul slip back into the girl’s body as she gagged. 

She turned her back on the demon lord as she clutched her heart and tried to catch her breath. 

“Explain yourself,” Sesshomaru said coldly.

“The girl is dying,” Chiyoko said bluntly. “Her soul can’t hold itself together with the amount of damage done to it. It’s no wonder, the scars I see. If they could do this to her soul…” She shuddered then turned a determined look to the demon lord. “I will need more information to determine if I can even save her.”

Chiyoko turned and brought another potion towards the girl. She lifted Kagome’s head and helped the unconscious girl drink. 

Soon, Kagome was blinking her eyes open again, feeling as if she had just laid back on the cot. She looked at Chiyoko as she sat up. “Is that it?”

“I need more information, girl,” Chiyoko said. “Who did this? How?”

“Naraku, an evil spider hanyou, and Kikyo, a dead miko,” Kagome said. She hesitated to mention the whole reincarnation thing.

Chiyoko’s brows rose. “A dead miko?”

Kagome sighed and explained about Inuyasha and Kikyo and Naraku. She explained being Kikyo’s reincarnation and how Kikyo had been brought back and wandered around with a piece of her soul and what her soul collectors did for her.

“Ah, that explains much,”  Chiyoko murmured to herself. She tapped her fingers on her chin as she thought. Her gaze shot back to Kagome. “Does that mean you are a miko too?”

Kagome let out a sob before she could stop it then took a deep breath. “Yes and no. I have the spiritual power, but was never trained. And after this,” Kagome waved her hand, “I’ll never be able to use my power without thinking of her. I want to be nothing like her, have nothing in common with her, ever again. But I don’t want to be powerless either.” She wiped angrily at her tears.

“Hmm,”  Chiyoko hummed in thought. “ So, if it came down to either using your reiki or losing it, which would you choose?”

“Honestly, I’d rather die,” Kagome said softly. She sent a pleading glance to Sesshomaru. His expression gave nothing away.

“I see, I see,” Chiyoko said. She sighed. “You don’t leave me with a lot of options.” She turned to Sesshomaru. “I have an idea of something that might help her with both the spiritual and the mental damage, but I will need a little time to research and make sure it’s possible. One thing we may be able to do,” she said, turning back to Kagome, “is block of some of your memories of what they did to you to help you use your power. It won’t hide what was done, just keep the details from overwhelming you.”

Kagome nodded, but didn’t say anything. She was firm in her opinion that nothing would help but death. 

“My Lord, may I speak with you a moment?” Chiyoko said. 

Sesshomaru nodded and gestured for Kagome to wait outside. Once the girl was outside, he turned back to the sorceress.

“How much do you really want to save her?” Chiyoko asked bluntly.

Sesshomaru glared at her.

Chiyoko held her hands up. “I ask, because I can’t save her with my power alone. The damage is just too severe. There’s only one thing I think might work. As I said, I need to research to be sure. However, even if that would work, I would need someone to aid me. I would need power added to my own. Power freely given. And more than most could possibly spare. It would even be enough to drain one as powerful as you for a day or two.” Chiyoko stared at Sesshomaru, wondering which choice he will make.

Sesshomaru considered her words. She would need him to give the healing spell power, a great deal of it, in order to save the miko’s life. He considered the alternative and narrowed his gaze at the sorceress. “How long to research?”

“I’ll send for you as soon as I’m done,” Chiyoko said.

Three weeks and four days later, Kagome walked back into the large hut of the sorceress Chiyoko. She was nervous. Sesshomaru had said nothing to her of what was coming or what the sorceress said to him in private. She wondered why he brought three fresh deer carcasses and set them outside by the door of the hut. 

Chiyoko nodded seriously to the girl and the demon lord. She was certain in her research. This would work. At least in theory. It would all depend on whether or not the girl’s power was enough and whether or not the demon lord was willing to give enough of his power to the ritual.

Kagome sat on the cot as Chiyoko gestured. She laid back at another gesture. There were many candles of different colors surrounding the cot and she watched as Chiyoko lit them and then several bunches of dried herbs and set those between the candles. 

Chiyoko knew Sesshomaru would not be back if he weren’t going to add his power to the ritual, so she didn’t waste time on conversation, she moved right into the ritual. She gave the girl a potion similar to the first she gave her last time, only much stronger. The girl barely managed to drink it, but drink it she did. Then her eyes slowly closed and Chiyoko began.

Sesshomaru watched as he leaned against the wall by the door, at the head of the cot. Wispy curls of power spilled from the sorceress’s hands and reached up from the miko’s body. The powers connect between the hands and the body they came from and slowly a ghostly outline of Kagome’s body was revealed. Sweat beaded on Chiyoko’s forehead and she gritted her teeth. 

“Now, my lord,” Chiyoko said through her teeth.

Sesshomaru straightened and held out his hand, sending his yokai to join the powers creating the ghostly outline. He felt a great pull on his yokai and he clenched his jaw and gave more of his power to the spell. He watched as his power struck the outline and the outline began to become more solid. 

Sesshomaru closed his eyes as more power was pulled from him. 

He had no idea how long it went on, but eventually he felt the edges of his limits. He gritted his teeth and forced more power into the spell. He had more power than anyone alive! He would not be bested by a simple healing spell! No matter if it was a soul healing spell, he was not giving in. 

Finally, the pull on his power ended. He opened his eyes and his vision was blurred. He took a few shaky steps back and gracefully sank to the floor to begin meditating. He needed to regain enough energy to step outside and eat. 

Chiyoko continued with the ritual as the demon lord sat and rested. She pushed away her own tiredness and forced herself to finish. To be the one to perform such a ritual was sure to not only bring her great appreciation from the demon lord and the girl she was healing and but could only add to her reputation. 

Three hours after Sesshomaru began to rest, Chiyoko gasped and dropped her hands. The nearly solid outline of the girl sunk down and covered her. Even with the potion she’d been given, she began to writhe in pain and discomfort. Chiyoko panted, trying to catch her breath. She turned and brought forward a bowl she’d prepared earlier. Dipping a cloth into the wet mixture, she began to bathe the girl’s skin. She’d requested the girl wear a simple yukata and she thoroughly bathed the girl with the mixture. As she did so, the whimpers of pain subsided and the girl stilled.

Chiyoko continued to bathe the girl’s skin, even lifting body parts and turning her over to be thorough. She continued, until the bowl was empty and the girl was glistening from head to toe. 

With a deep sigh, she stepped back. “Now we wait,” she said to the resting demon lord. She received no reply.

Once more in a darkened bedroom in his palace, Sesshomaru stood staring down at the woman he’d saved. He’d been shocked when he came out of his meditation and took a look at her. The stubborn sorceress had not told him this would be the result. 

Without his permission, a hand reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her pointed ear. His thumb stroked down the soft skin of the smooth, unblemished cheek. 

He pulled his hand back. The woman would wake soon and she was sure to have questions. 

Kagome stared at her reflection in the  full-length mirror on the back of the opened closet door. She turned her head back and forth and then risked a glance at her silent companion. “How is this even possible?” she whispered.

Sesshomaru shrugged. “Apparently, there were a lot of things that had to be in place for it to be possible and things were just right to be able to do it. And it was this or for you to lose your power.”

Kagome shook her head. “I mean, I’m not upset or ungrateful. I’m just stunned.” She stared at the changes in herself. The one thing she would be forever grateful for, above nearly all else, was that all her injuries and scarring from her torture was gone completely. Not a single scar was left. Not even the scar from Mistress Centipede tearing the jewel from her side remained. 

Sesshomaru watched as Kagome took in the changes in her appearance. Her long hair was a bit longer and held more vibrantly blue highlights than before. Her blue eyes sparkled and held silver flecks now. Her ears were pointed and she had fangs and claws. The most noticeable change were the markings on her face. She had a single, blue, jagged mark high on each cheek and a soft purple teardrop shape on her forehead. A dark purple line graced each of her eyelids. 

“But how in the world did I become an inuyokai?” Kagome said baffled. She shook her head then frowned. “I am an inuyokai, right? Not some other type?”

“You are inuyoaki,” Sesshomaru confirmed. “Chiyoko said that your soul was too tattered and torn to survive on its own strength. I added my power to your soul and she used my power to fill in the holes in your soul. She coated each wound with my power to heal it and filled in your missing pieces with yokai. She used your own reiki and combined it with my yokai which then absorbed my yokai. You will no longer have the use of holy powers. You are full yokai now.”

Kagome stared into her own eyes in the mirror then flicked her gaze to Sesshomaru. She smiled brightly. “Thank you!” Turning her gaze back to the mirror, she saw her fangs peeking out with her wide smile. “Oh, would you be able to help me learn how to use my yokai?” Her gaze darted back to Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru jerked his eyes up to meet her gaze, his gaze having drifted down over her body. He nodded once. “We will begin training after breakfast today.”

Kagome squealed in excitement, but quietly so as not to hurt his sensitive hearing. She threw her arms around his shoulders and said, “Thank you! I really appreciate all of this!”

“Hn.” Sesshomaru briefly patted her back then stepped back. “Breakfast is ready. Come.”

The oni’s body fell to the forest floor and Sango panted and wiped her brow as Miroku replaced the beads around his cursed hand. Shippo commented on the reek of the oni while Kikyo pulled the jewel shard from the arm of the oni’s body and then returned to Inuyasha’s side. He reached out and took her hand, holding her hand as he smiled at her with love in his eyes. 

“So that’s why you left Kagome to rot in Naraku’s hands,” a cool, feminine voice said. 

The group turned to see a hooded figure come from the trees. Next to the female, clearly a demon from the claws at the tips of her fingers, stood a familiar form in white. 

“Sesshomaru! What are you doing here?” Inuyasha demanded. He didn’t drop Kikyo’s hand to reach for his sword, unusual for him.

“Tell me, did you have Kikyo join you the same day Naraku took Kagome or did you wait a whole day or two for the sake of appearances?” the female asked in the same cool tone. 

“What are you talking about?” Sango demanded. She readied her hiraikotsu. “What do you know about Kagome?”

“I know she was taken by Naraku and tortured by Naraku and Kikyo,” the female said.

Inuyasha dropped Kikyo’s hand and pulled his sword. “You lie! Show your face and say that!”

“Why? Is your sense of smell so weak, hanyou, that you can’t scent truth from lie?” the female said. “I was there. I saw, and in some cases felt, what they did to her.”

“Where is she?” Sango demanded, near tears. Kagome had been missing for nearly four months. She was desperate to find her dear friend who was so like a sister to her. “Where is Kagome?”

A soft sigh came from the hooded female. “She’s alive and well, in some ways. Mostly though, she’s dead and gone.”

“What does that mean?” Miroku asked.

The female sighed again. “What does it mean? What do you think happens to a person after months of torture? Do you think they come out of it the same person they were before? Soon, there’ll be nothing left of the girl you knew but a name.”

Interpreting the words to mean Kagome was going to die, Sango sobbed. “No! Bring her to us! We will help her! We-”

“Why didn’t you help her when she needed you the most?” the female said, the hood indicating she was tilting her head slightly in question. “Why didn’t you rescue her from Naraku and Kikyo instead of partnering with one of her torturers?”

Seeing the dead priestess’s eyes narrow, with inhuman speed, the female pulled out a bow and aimed an arrow at her. “Ah, ah, ah! No slipping away, Kikyo.”

Inuyasha stepped in front of Kikyo. “You won’t touch her!”

Seeing Kikyo’s suspicious glare from around Inuyasha’s shoulder, Kagome knew she was about to reveal her secret. Or at least her suspicions. Kagome figured it was the being a demon bit that was throwing her off. “If I have to go through you, Inuyasha, so be it.”

The arrow in Kagome’s hands flared and was suddenly surrounded by blue flames. Once more using her new speed, Kagome pulled back the string of the bow and loosed the arrow. 

The arrow flew straight and true and pierced Inuyasha straight through the shoulder and pierced Kikyo right in the chest. Her clay form cracked and souls began to spill out. As the numerous souls of poor dead girls Kikyo had preyed on lifted into the air and floated away, one last, bright spark of soul hovered over her clay form as Inuyasha screamed her name. It hovered for a long moment then slowly dissipated into the air, not floating up like the others.

“Ah, poor Kagome,” Kagome said, keeping up her pretense. 

Sango snapped back to her from the sight of Inuyasha, with an arrow still stuck in his shoulder, holding Kikyo’s broken clay corpse. “What do you mean? What happened to Kagome?”

“Didn’t you see? The part of her soul that was kept from her, the part of her soul Kikyo selfishly used to hurt her and to live, didn’t go to find her,” Kagome said. 

“It didn’t go on to the next world either,” Miroku said.

“Or perhaps it did, it just didn’t deserve to go to heaven,” Kagome said. “Perhaps, it had been in Kikyo’s possession so long that that little part of Kagome’s soul is now consigned to hell.”

“No! Kagome doesn’t deserve to go to Hell!” Shippo shouted with tears in his eyes. He started to run up to the hooded female and kick her in the shin, but Sango grabbed him. 

Kagome felt a pang in her chest at Shippo’s words, but the others never answered her. “You never did say how long you looked before you stopped and paired up with her torturer. How long did it take to give her up to Naraku and Kikyo? How long did you actually look before the jewel shards became more important? Before your revenge, Sango, and your own life, Miroku, became more important? How long before Inuyasha’s preference for Kikyo led him to stop the search for her in favor of jewel shards?”

Guilt flickered across Sango and Miroku’s faces. But Sango stood tall. “We never stopped searching for her! Every time we would get close, Naraku would move his hideout!”

“No, actually,” Kagome said. “She was never moved. Not once in the months she was tortured. And it couldn’t have been impossible to find given that someone found her eventually.” Kagome waved to Sesshomaru who stood to one side behind her, simply watching. 

“Where is she?” Sango shouted. 

“Dead apparently,” Kagome said. “You saw her soul. It didn’t return to her. What else could have happened to her?” Kagome felt bad for saying it to Shippo and felt a tiny twinge for Sango and Miroku at the devastated look on their faces. But where were they when she’d needed them? “Again, I ask, for her sake. How long did you search? How long until Kikyo joined you?”

“Inuyasha said finding the jewel shards would lead us to Naraku and Kagome!” Shippo sobbed. 

“How long, kit, until Kikyo joined you?” Kagome asked again.

“A month,” Sango whispered. 

Kagome nodded. “And then, it was back to travel as normal for you. Search for the jewel shards with Kikyo’s help while Kagome was tortured. Such friendship.”

“Shut up, you bitch!” Inuyasha screamed as the lunged towards her with his sword raised. 

Kagome laughed. “Well, I suppose technically I am, aren’t I?” She sent a smile over her shoulder at Sesshomaru as Inuyasha ran towards her. Then she turned back to the hanyou and, once more using inhuman speed, she ran to meet him. She easily dodged around his wildly swinging sword and punched him right in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. 

Sesshomaru watched the whole encounter with a mixture of surprise and pride. Surprise that she actually went through with the planned deception. Pride that she didn’t let her past feelings stop her from getting her vengeance and that she put her training with him to good use. He smirked at her antics and nearly laughed when she knocked his half-brother out.

“Did you really think hunting jewel shards was going to save her?” Kagome asked in a cold, mocking tone. 

“We had no other leads,” Miroku said with a defeated tone. 

“Oh?” She turned to Sesshomaru. “Tell me, how did you find her?”

“Easily,” Sesshomaru said. “The scent was thick in the air even miles away. There was no attempt to hide it. They,” he nodded to the group they were facing, “traveled in the area quite a bit before I had need to hunt down the spider for taking my ward.”

Kagome turned back to the group. “So maybe ask Inuyasha when he wakes why he didn’t want to find Kagome? Perhaps because it was more fun for him to have a dead, but willing, miko around?” Kagome let her disgust color her voice as she mentioned Kikyo’s willingness. “I mean, surely they were intimate. Unless she saved that for Naraku alone?”

“She wouldn’t, surely,” Miroku said in disgust.

“They had sex multiple times after a long bout of torture. It seemed to be quite the excitement for them,” Kagome said, hating to say it in front of Shippo, but she was determined they face the reality of their choices. 

Kagome shook her head. “I thought, for her, the girl that she was before the torture, to find answers to the questions she asked me. I can’t say I found anything that would have brought her comfort.” 

Kagome turned her back on the group and held strong as she heard Sango comforting a sobbing kit. 

Back at home, Sesshomaru watched as Kagome took off the hooded cloak she’d requested of him before she agreed to meet with her friends once more. He’d thought he’d have to talk sense into her to keep her from going back to the traitorous group, but she figured out on her own the reason it was Sesshomaru and not her friends who’d saved her. They’d stopped looking. 

“You did well,” he said. He let a touch of pride hint his tone.

Kagome blinked over at the demon lord then blushed slightly at the praise. “Thank you.” Then the smile disappeared and she dropped down on the cushions next to the small table in one corner of her room. “I told myself not to, but I really had hoped they would have had an excuse, a reason…” She trailed off and sighed.

“It is not unreasonable to wish for honorable actions from one’s allies,” Sesshomaru said with a slight shrug.

Kagome gave a sad laugh. “I thought we were friends.”

“Hn.” Sesshomaru had no real delusions about that little group. For all that they may have adored her, their own motives were more important to them in the end. 

Kagome stared off into nothing for a bit and then shook it off. “I suppose I’ll surprise them again when it’s time for the final battle with Naraku. Oh! Did you get the jewel shards?”

“Hn.” Sesshomaru had easily grabbed the shards from the dead miko’s clay corpse while Inuyasha attacked. The others in the group had been too focused on the fight to even notice. He handed the shards, still a bit tainted, to Kagome.

Kagome grimaced. “And they couldn’t tell something was wrong when she couldn’t purify or join the shards together? Really? Ugh.” She closed her hands together and the shards purified and joined. She smiled as she opened her hand and then blinked. “I shouldn’t still be able to do that, should I?”

“Normally, I would say no,” Sesshomaru said. “However, I did find the answer to why your yokai looks so different. Apparently, humans aren’t the only ones with blessed beings among them. You are essentially the yokai equivalent to a miko.”

Kagome blinked. “How does that even happen?”

Sesshomaru shrugged. “There has not been one for over a millenia, since long before my birth.”

Kagome looked down at the shard of the Shikon Jewel. “I guess it still wants me to be the one to rid the world of it.”

As Kagome studied the jewel shard, Sesshomaru studied her. Again. It seemed every time he saw her, there was something new that drew him in. Her hair, her skin, her markings, her fangs, her claws… None of it was all that different from any other yokai female. And yet it was. 

And her fiery nature and the pure delight she sometimes showed when the memories were not clouding her eyes as they were now; it all drew him in. She was so different and he enjoyed it.

The fight was over in moments and Sesshomaru smirked as Kagome jumped up and down in a victory celebration, blood and gore dripping from her claws. Her fangs caught the sunlight and his breath caught as his mind showed him a picture of those fangs bared as she threw her head back in pleasure. He imagined the feel of them scraping along his skin…

“Sesshomaru, this is the last one! I’m sure of it,” Kagome said. She jumped up and down again and clapped her hands, then grimaced at the stickiness of the drying blood. “Please tell me there’s a hot spring around her somewhere.”

Sesshomaru jerked his mind out of the distracting thoughts and ignored his beast’s growl. “Is there a hot spring around?”

Kagome huffed. She knew he was just pushing her to learn to use her newly heightened senses properly, but sometimes she wished he’d just come out and say that instead of turn her questions back around on her. She tilted her head back slightly and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. She filtered through all the scents in the air and searched for the one scent she was looking for. There! She found it! Her eyes popped open and she smiled at him. “There! About a mile that way,” she said pointing. She waited for his confirmation. 

“Let’s go then,” Sesshomaru said blandly. He knew she was off slightly in her estimate of how far it was, but she was fairly close. Not bad for someone who was essentially the equivalent of a pup in terms of experience as a yokai. 

After a slightly longer walk than Kagome had anticipated, they reached a small hot spring. 

Kagome looked back at Sesshomaru who turned his back, but stubbornly stayed right beside the spring. She huffed in annoyance, but then smiled at the thought of him protecting her since she was still learning to use her new abilities and senses. She quickly stripped and slipped into the hot water, groaning in pleasure as her tight muscles began to relax.

Sesshomaru glared at the forest in front of him at the sound of her soft groan. His mind, with his beast’s help, brought up all the ways he could make her groan for him. He shook off the thoughts as he scented sadness from behind him and caught a soft sigh. “What troubles you?” He hadn’t intended to ask, hadn’t even thought of opening his mouth, before the words slipped out.

“It’s just,” Kagome said, then bit her lip. “It’s just Sango and I used to always go to the hot springs together and talk and share secrets. She was like a sister to me. I really thought I meant more to her than that.”

“I believe much of the blame is to lay with the half-breed,” Sesshomaru said. “If he had not kept information from them, they likely would have come for you much sooner. In his mind, he wanted more jewel shards before the final battle, so that was what he directed them to rather than to your imprisonment. Had he shared what I know he could not have avoided scenting, or the couple of rumors I know made their way to his ears, I believe the humans and the kit would have ignored his wants and come for you. Precisely why he did keep the information from them.”

Kagome looked at the cloudy water and thought over his words. “You really think Sango and Miroku still cared?”

“The slayer scented of grief at the thought of her friend’s death,” Sesshomaru said carefully. 

Kagome’s gaze darted to Sesshomaru’s back. “I didn’t catch that.”

“It may not have registered as it would have been the first time you caught the scent,” Sesshomaru said. “Especially as you were focused on the half-breed for most of it.”

Kagome nodded but felt she should have been able to pick up on that new scent herself. “What of Miroku?”

“Guilt and sadness,” Sesshomaru said. 

It was quiet for a bit as Kagome scrubbed and washed as best she could without any soap or shampoo. She got out and shook off as best she could then worked her clothes over her damp body. 

“Come on, let’s go home and see what Rin and Kohaku are up to,” Kagome said, joining the demon lord.

Sesshomaru smirked at hearing her refer to the Western Fortress as home. As they began the journey back to his home, he thought about the possibility of making it her home permanently.

Leaving his study, Sesshomaru followed the sound of laughter to a balcony overlooking the north gardens. Seeing the beautiful female standing with her back to him, leaning on the railing of the balcony, Sesshomaru paused then made a decision. He walked up behind her and placed his hands on the railing, one to each side of her, trapping her in his arms. 

Kagome jumped and looked over her shoulder to see the handsome demon lord. She blushed lightly as she felt his chest brush against her back. “Sesshomaru?”

Ignoring the question, Sesshomaru tilted his head down and spoke with his lips brushing against her ear, “What is so amusing, miko?”

Kagome giggled to hide her nervousness. She pointed over the railing. “Look.”

Sesshomaru looked over her shoulder and smirked. Rin had Kohaku sitting on a bench, covered in flowers. There were two flower crowns on his head and various other flowers tucked into his clothing here and there as if a statue had been decorated with flowers. “Hn.” There was a tone of amusement to his non-answer.

Kagome laughed. “I think you might be looking at your future son-in-law,” Kagome whispered then giggled again at his annoyed growl. 

Kagome leaned on the wide stone railing on her elbows with her arms crossed. She smiled as the breeze carried the scent of flowers to her sensitive nose. Under the soft scent, she could smell the woodsy musk that was solely  Sesshomaru . She smothered a sigh. In all the time since he’d saved her and healed her, she had developed a bit of a crush on the stoic demon lord. Training with him only made it worse. Yes, he was strict. But he was also patient with her. That didn’t mean he would let her get away with making the same mistake twice, but  overall, he was far more patient that she’d ever suspected. She was beginning to see how Rin was so devoted to him. He was something else with her since saving her. Or perhaps it was since her change? 

Kagome sighed. It would make sense. Now that she was not simple a lowly human, she was suddenly worthy of his time. She sighed again wishing someone could love or even like her just for her.

Sesshomaru frowned as the female in his arms sighed repeatedly and a scent of melancholy reached him. “Wishing to be back with your friends?”

“No,” Kagome sighed. “Just wishing… Oh, nevermind. It’s nothing.”

“Hn.” It was not nothing, but it was normal for her to still be adjusting to the changes in herself. “I have a question for you, miko.”

“Should you still be calling me ‘miko’? I no longer have human holy powers nor am I human any longer,” Kagome said softly.

“Hn. Kagome, will you allow me to court you?” Sesshomaru asked softly. 

Kagome straightened up and spun around in his arms. Her eyes were wide. “What?”

Sesshomaru frowned. “This one is not in the habit of repeating himself.”

Kagome shook her head. “I know you didn’t just ask to court me.”

“I did not?” Sesshomaru said with a raised brow.

Kagome stared at him for a long moment then sighed. “I want to say yes, so badly.”

Sesshomaru frowned. “Then do so,” he growled. His beast was not pleased it appeared she would refuse.

“But you would never look at me if I were still human,” Kagome said softly, tears coming to her eyes. “You would never even consider such a thing with a ‘lowly human.’ If I weren’t now inuyokai, you would never ask me that.”

Sesshomaru continued to frown. “But you are inuyokai now. Why does it matter?”

Kagome shook her head and ducked under his arm, sobbing and running to her bedroom.

Sesshomaru spun around and watched her flee, completely confused about her objection.

Two weeks later, Sesshomaru was in his study staring down at the paperwork on his desk and growling. The female had spent every moment of the last two weeks with Rin and Kohaku, unless he came around. Then she would run off to her room to avoid him. 

Sesshomaru wanted nothing more than to sweep an arm across his desk and throw everything on it to the floor. But he was a master of self-control and would not stoop to such a thing. How was he to understand her reluctance if she continued to avoid him and refused to explain herself? 

She was not human, but inuyokai. What did that matter? He liked her as she was. Why was that a problem?

Sesshomaru growled again. 

A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts. He put his stoic mask back into place and said, “Enter.”

Kohaku poked his head in the door. “Do you have a moment, my lord?”

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at the boy then nodded. He wondered what the boy could  possibly want. 

Kohaku stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. At a gesture from the demon lord he sat in a chair across the desk from him. Kohaku took a deep breath and said, “I know the final battle is coming and I’d like to be a part of it. Ever since you and Kagome pulled the shard from my back and saved my life, I’ve been remembering more and more. I finally remember everything and I want to be there to end his miserable existence.” Kohaku’s expression was fierce and determined. He didn’t want the demon lord to think he was dealing with a child. He was far from a child after being Naraku’s plaything for so long. 

Sesshomaru leaned back in his chair and studied the boy. He had shown some skill while under Naraku’s control. Sesshomaru wondered if that skill was more or less without the shard in his back. “You will meet me tomorrow after the mid-day meal in the dojo. I will test your skills. If I find your skills enough to be more of a help than a hindrance, you may accompany us.”

Kohaku nodded and started to rise. 

“Wait,” Sesshomaru said. “You have a sister, do you not?”

Kohaku sat back down and nodded. 

“ So, you have some understanding of the female human mind,”  Sesshomaru more demanded than asked.

Kohaku laughed a little. “I don’t think any male ever understands a female.”

“Hn.”

“But I’m happy to provide any insight I might have,” Kohaku said after a moment’s uncomfortable silence. 

Sesshomaru weighed his options and found there was no reason not to ask. “This goes no further than between us,” he said with a warning growl.

Kohaku nodded nervously.

“I asked to court Kagome,” Sesshomaru said bluntly. “She refused because I asked when she was inuyokai and not when she was human. Why?”

Kohaku blinked. He didn’t realize Sesshomaru felt that way about Kagome, but it would explain her recent sadness. “Because if you wouldn’t have asked her when she was human then it’s not really her you care about.”

Sesshomaru frowned. “Explain.”

“If she was still human, would you ask to court her?” Kohaku said, struggling to think of a way to explain something that was obvious to him.

“But she is not human,” Sesshomaru said frustrated.

“But she was,” Kohaku said. “And in some  ways, she always will be. She grew up human. She lived as a human for far longer than she’s lived as a  yokai . If you reject her as a human and want only the  inuyokai , then you don’t really want her. You just want a demon that is like her.”

“Hn.” Sesshomaru’s gaze drifted to the ceiling in thought. He did have much to consider in asking to court her, didn’t he? Lowering his gaze back to Kohaku, he flicked his hand towards the study door, dismissing the boy. 

Kohaku rose and quickly left the study.

Sesshomaru lost himself in thought. Would he have asked to court her if healing her soul had still left her human? He thought on the question long into the night until another question occurred to him. When had he decided he wanted her for his mate?

His beast growled out the answer quickly and he knew it was right. He wanted her for his own when she explained her reasons for asking him to kill her. 

Her reasons for asking him had been understandable, but what he remembered most was how calm she’d been. She hadn’t feared death. Just as she had long since ceased to fear him. If ever she did. Her thoughts on the matter showed intelligence and emotional maturity that he found rare in many, yokai or human, male or female. 

Much like with Rin, she had sparked his curiosity and his sympathy, touching his hard heart.

He would find a way to prove to her that he would have asked to court her whether she was human or not. He just had to find a way to do it.

The finale battle with the evil spider hanyou came sooner than Sesshomaru had anticipated, but they were ready. Kohaku walked behind Kagome and Sesshomaru, who walked together. He’d proven he was skilled enough to handle such a battle. Sesshomaru had been pleased to see he was even more skilled when not fighting the spider hanyou from within. 

Sesshomaru glanced at Kagome walking beside him and noticed she was twisting her hand on her bow nervously. He knew she wasn’t nervous about the fight. She was more than ready to finally defeat the bastard who’d tortured her for months. No, her nervousness had to do with the understanding that a battle was hectic and things happened that couldn’t be controlled. She was nervous about her friends finally seeing her and, hopefully, understanding what she’d almost, mostly, told them at their last meeting.

Sesshomaru thought a moment and then reached out and pulled her hand away from her bow. She looked at him questioningly when he didn’t drop her hand, but held it as the continued to walk to the sight of the already on-going battle. He pulled her hand up and kissed the back of it. She blushed charmingly and he smirked at her.

Kagome wasn’t sure what to think. Despite her best attempts to avoid him, eventually  Sesshomaru had been able to track her down and start spending time with her. He was wearing down her objections and she wanted nothing more than to give in to him. But she couldn’t. It would hurt  too much to know she was married, or mated, to a man who only loved her since she was  yokai and who would never have looked at her if she had been human still.

The sight of the battle ahead brought her out of her thoughts. 

Sango was in the air on Kirara and her hiraikotsu was embedded in a sickly mass of tentacles that surrounded the upper body of the human guise of Naraku. Sango pulled out her katana and started slashing at the tentacles coming at her. Miroku was just placing his beads back around his cursed hand at the sight of Naraku’s poisonous insects. He continued to fight with his staff and sutras, but the serious look on his face told of his desperation to end the battle soon. Inuyasha jumped up and screamed out his attack, the Wind Scar slicing into Naraku, who just laughed and quickly regenerated. 

“Kohaku, try to take out the poisonous insects if you can,” Kagome said. “It will allow Miroku to finish off the horde of lesser demons quickly.”

“On it,” Kohaku said. He pulled out his weapon and took off running towards the battle.

Kagome took a quick look at Sesshomaru and then pulled her hood up. “Let’s finish this.”

“Hn.” Sesshomaru ran out in front of her and began slicing away tentacles with his sword, Bakusaiga, getting closer than the others to the center of the mass of black tentacles that was Naraku’s laughing face. 

Kagome stepped out into the clearing and pulled up her bow. Her cloak was thrown off one shoulder leaving her quiver of arrows easily accessed. She reached behind her and pulled out an arrow which immediately began to glow with blue fire. She smiled grimly as she aimed for the center of Naraku’s chest, where she could see the dark portion of the Shikon Jewel that Naraku possessed. 

Naraku laughed and brought up a tentacle to flick the arrow away, only to scream in pain as the blue flames burned straight through the tentacle and embedded itself into his shoulder, still on fire. He screamed and tried to use another tentacle to remove it from his shoulder, but the tentacle just melted away.

Kagome laughed slightly as she realized the tentacles touched by her blue flames could not regenerate. She ran around the outside of the clearing shooting at the tentacles that were aimed for others. 

Suddenly, Sango screamed, “Kohaku!” 

She must have just realized who’s side he is fighting on, Kagome thought. She paid for the distraction. She missed the tentacle she’d been aiming at and it grabbed her and squeezed. When she pulled her yokai into her hands and pushed, the tentacle threw her across the clearing, her cloak catching on a tree and ripped away before she landed on her back, winded.

“Kagome?” Miroku gasped as he went to help her up.

Kagome rose to her feet and clapped Miroku on the back. “Hey, Miroku. Looks like Kohaku has finished off the last of the poisonous insects if you want to get back to using the Wind Tunnel for the last time.”

Miroku spun around and saw she was right. There were no more poisonous insects in the air. Taking the chance, as he was too tired to keep fighting off the horde of demons alone with just his staff, Miroku ripped the beads away from his cursed hand and started sucking in the lesser demons.

Kagome tossed her hair over her shoulder and ran over to her bow in a blur. She picked it up and jumped up onto a tentacle aimed right for Sango. She pulled back the string of her bow and her arrow glowed blue. With a smirk, Kagome said, “Die, you sick bastard!” 

The arrow flew straight and true and landed right in Naraku’s heart, touching, but not breaking, the dark portion of the Shikon Jewel. The blue flames burned away the body around it, the whole gaping bigger and bigger. Kagome leaned forward and jerked the dark piece of the jewel out of Naraku’s screaming, melting body. It purified the instant it touched her hand and she held it to the shard on the necklace around her neck. When she removed her hands, a whole, solid Shikon Jewel rested against her chest. 

Sesshomaru landed on the tentacle turning to a sticky mess under her feet and grabbed her around the waist before jumping back down to the ground. Sango landed just as Kohaku came up to join them. She looked torn for a moment staring between Kagome and Kohaku. Then she yelled, “Kagome! Kohaku!” She ran up to them and threw her arms around both their necks and squeezed them tight. 

Kagome held out for a moment, then caught the tears on Sango and Kohaku’s faces and gave in. She reached up and grabbed Sango and held her tight. 

Sango stepped back as Miroku, Kirara and Shippo walked over to them. 

“Kagome! You’re alive!” Shippo cried out.

Kagome knelt down and held out her arms, sweeping Shippo up into a tight hug as her kit cried on her shoulder. She stroked his hair and murmured soothingly too him. 

“I don’t understand,” Miroku said softly, rubbing his now healed hand. 

“I do!” Inuyasha screamed. “This bitch killed Kikyo and shot me with an arrow!” He swung his sword around and pink tinted the whites of his eyes.

“I did,” Kagome said calmly. “But you forget, she tortured me for months, right next to Naraku! She had sex with Naraku in front of me. She-”

“Lying bitch!” Inuyasha went to attack her and the sword de-transformed back into its nicked, rusted state. Inuyasha paused to stare at his sword in disbelief.

“You’d seriously try to kill Kagome?” Sango screamed at him. 

“It’s alright,” Kagome said softly as she set Shippo in Sesshomaru’s arms, to the surprise of both, and then she walked over to Inuyasha. “Do you know, Inuyasha, that the only way to truly protect myself from the memories of the torture that would have killed me if not for Sesshomaru, is to share them? To give them over into someone else’s mind, so that they aren’t lurking in the back of my mind waiting to overcome the healing spell that blurs them to me?”

“Keh,” Inuyasha scoffed. “You aren’t Kagome! Kagome is human and there’s no spell to turn a human into a demon! I’ve looked!”

“You’re right. I was human,” Kagome said. “But now I’m inuyokai. Wanna know how it happened? You lady love, dearest Kikyo, tortured my soul, MY SOUL, to the point that it was such a tattered mess I wasn’t going to survive. My body healed with numerous scars, but my mind and soul were still a bloody mess. But here, why don’t I prove to you that I’m not lying about Kikyo?”

Kagome reached out faster than Inuyasha could dodge and grabbed his shoulder. She placed two fingers on her forehead then pulled them away and placed them on Inuyasha’s forehead. 

Inuyasha dropped to the ground screaming and crying. 

Miroku moved to go to his side, but Kagome held him back. “He needs to know, Miroku. Otherwise he won’t stop trying to kill me.”

Miroku reluctantly nodded and stopped next to her. “I know a spell that will blur these memories for him as well.”

Kagome nodded. “I truly would not wish it those memories on anyone, Miroku. I had never intended to share them, but I’m not going to live my life in fear of one day slipping up and being killed by someone I once thought a friend, someone I once loved.”

“But how?” Sango asked, hugging Kohaku to her side.

It was Kohaku who answered her. “I helped keep her alive, but they took such pleasure in torturing her that Naraku started to forget to keep my mind darkened and pushed down under his will. I was able to free my will and help care for her in between sessions of torture. One day, when she wasn’t going to last much longer, Lord Sesshomaru arrived looking for Rin. He saved us both.”

“How long have you two been free?” Sango asked.

“A few months?” Kohaku said after thinking about it.

“And you didn’t come to me?” Sango asked with pain in her eyes.

Kohaku’s gaze dropped to the ground.

“It took some time for him to heal after he regained his memories,” Kagome said. “And I wasn’t even awake for the first month really. The healers kept me unconscious due to the extent of my injuries.”

“But how did you become…?” Sango asked.

“It was a very, very specific set of circumstances with my soul being so damaged and how it needed to be healed,” Kagome said carefully. “It was this or death. I nearly chose death, but Sesshomaru found someone who could help me heal my mind and soul.” She shrugged. 

Inuyasha stopped screaming and started gagging before turning to his side and vomiting.

“Oh, he got to the part where they-” She broke off and bit her lip, trying not to gag herself. Though the memories were now as if someone had told her what had happened to her, rather than as if she’d lived it herself, certain memories still were too intense to dwell on. 

“Why did you let us think you were dead?” Shippo asked in a small voice.

Kagome took a deep breath as  Inuyasha stopped vomiting and started whimpering. No, his pain was far from over. He had  months' worth of memories to relive. Kagome took  Shippo back from  Sesshomaru and held him close. 

“The thing is, I knew you guys had been close at least once or twice,” Kagome said. “Naraku and Kikyo laughed about it. They said you guys had given up on finding me and didn’t care what happened to me. I didn’t want to believe it, but you guys didn’t exactly inspire hope when I asked you about it.”

“We are so sorry, Kagome,” Sango said with tears on her face. “We didn’t know!”

“He did,” Sesshomaru said, speaking for the first time. He nodded to the whimpering hanyou. 

“What? How?” Sango said.

“He smelled Naraku’s scent and didn’t have us go after him yet, didn’t he?” Miroku said still rubbing his palm. 

“Yes,” Sesshomaru said simply.

“But why? He wanted to defeat Naraku as much as we did!” Sango said.

“Yes,” Kagome said. “But he also wanted to be the one to get his hands on the completed jewel. He wanted to keep Kikyo around forever with him, even if it meant killing me to gain the jewel and the rest of my soul.”

“Surely, he wouldn’t,” Miroku said. But his tone was doubting.

“He did,” Sesshomaru snarled. “And you followed him, leaving her in the hands of those two.”

Sango and Miroku flinched at the words. 

Shippo burst into tears and started apologizing his little heart out. Kagome kissed the top of his head and shushed him. “It’s okay, Shippo,” Kagome whispered into his ear. She looked up at the others. “It took me time to realize it was all Inuyasha and not either of you that left me there. I don’t know what happened to make him suddenly stop caring. Even if he never loved me, he used to want to protect me.”

“Kikyo happened,” Miroku said grimly. “It got to the point you were not to be spoken about. It was unnerving, but we thought it had simply become too unbearable to hear your name. Less than a week later, Kikyo joined us openly. Inuyasha didn’t give us a choice. It was agree to travel with her or go off on our own. And no matter how strong Sango and I are, we knew we couldn’t take on Naraku alone.”

Kagome nodded. Then she smiled. Miroku and Sango were slightly distracted by the fangs she showed off and nearly missed her question, “What are you planning to do now?”

Miroku smiled and turned from the now unconscious form of Inuyasha. He slipped an arm around Sango’s waist and said, “We will be getting married. I asked and my lovely Sango has finally agreed.”

Sango blushed and looked at Kohaku nervously. Her brother smirked at them making Sango breathe a sigh of relief. 

“But first, we need to get rid of the Shikon Jewel,” Sango said firmly.

“Hn,” Sesshomaru said. “A word miko.”

Kagome let him put Shippo in Sango’s arms and then lead her a short distance away so that the humans couldn’t hear them. “Sesshomaru?”

“You were wrong to think I would never have wanted to court you if you were still human,” Sesshomaru said, somewhat stiffly, not used to needed to speak of his emotions often. “I knew I wanted you for my mate when you asked me to kill you. You were so calm and held no fear of death. Your reasons were well thought out and showed intelligence and maturity. You intrigued me and struck my heart in a way I couldn’t ignore. 

“But should you need proof, use the jewel and wish yourself human again. It will not change my mind. I have found a way, in a little know book in my father’s section of the library, that we could still have full-yokai children if you were a human miko again. Or we can have hanyou if it truly matters-” Sesshomaru blinked and then frowned down at the woman holding her fingers to his lips.

Kagome’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Sesshomaru, I don’t need proof. I know you would never lie to me about this.”

“Does this mean I may court you?” Sesshomaru murmured through her fingers.

Kagome withdrew her fingers and smiled up at him. “Yes!” She threw her arms around his shoulders and stood on the tips of her toes.

Sesshomaru leaned down to meet her and they shared their first kiss. It was soft and full of promise of more to come. Pulling back, Sesshomaru smirked. 

Kagome giggled. “We should go back and let them see us get rid of the jewel so that we can all start our lives fresh without the jewel or Naraku to worry about.”

“What will you wish for?” Sesshomaru asked as they walked back towards the others.

“For the jewel to disappear forever,” Kagome said simply.

“A perfect wish,” Miroku said rising from his kneeling position beside Inuyasha, who was now awake and aware, but unable to meet Kagome’s eyes.

Kagome smiled and held up the jewel, ready to make the wish, when a thought occurred to her. Her eyes went wide and she gasped. “Wait! There’s something I need to do first!”

Kagome looked up from the bottom of the well and smiled at the sight of the roof above her. The well was slightly cramped with her, Sesshomaru, Rin and Shippo all in it. She winced and her eyes watered right along with Sesshomaru and Shippo at the horrendous scents that hit her nose and her ears ached from all the noise.

After several long minutes, they all began to adjust to the changes, and Sesshomaru gathered everyone into his arms and jumped out of the well. 

The visit with her family was short and bittersweet. They adored Rin and Shippo. They worried over Kagome’s changes, but were grateful to Sesshomaru for saving her. 

Kagome was grateful she’d finished high school just before she’d been captured by Naraku so she didn’t have to spend a moment away from her family during the visit.

Before her mother and grandfather would let them leave, they insisted on a small and entirely legal ceremony to ensure Kagome and Sesshomaru were properly married before they left. Everything was kept simple. Rin sat in for Sesshomaru’s family and as she was too young for sake, they used juice instead for her sake. There were tons of pictures taken and before they finally left, Kagome’s mom printed off some of the pictures for them to take back with them. 

Kagome sniffled as they once more found themselves on the bottom of the well, this time with bright sunshine shining down unobstructed. 

“Don’t worry, love,” Sesshomaru whispered in her ear after pulling them all out of the well. “You’ll see them again.”

“Yeah,” Kagome said softly, looking up at him with a slight smile. She closed her eyes and kissed him, then pulled back. “Let’s go get the others so we can finally be rid of this cursed jewel.”

** Epilogue: **

Kagome walked up the familiar stone steps to her family’s shrine. She smiled at the cool breeze that blew her hair away from her face and looked up at her mate of 500 years. He was still as handsome to her as he was the first time they met. Well, okay, maybe not the first time they met. Kagome giggled. She hadn’t quite noticed how handsome he was while he was trying to kill her. 

Sesshomaru raised a brow in question. 

Kagome shook her head. “I’m so happy to finally be seeing them again after all this time!”

Sesshomaru smirked. She had been getting more and more nervous the closer the day came. He was nearly surprised she wasn’t trying to run in the other direction. But it appeared that now that the moment was here, only happiness was in her scent and thoughts.

From behind them came, “Mama, how many more steps are there?”

Kagome laughed and she winked at her mate, having won their bet on which child, if any, would complain first about the steps. Kaori was their second youngest and could be a bit whiny, especially when bored. As a full demon, the stairs were hardly tiring her. They just bored her. 

“I can see the top of the steps from here,” Kagome said cheerfully.

Shippo snickered. “We could see the top of the steps from the bottom, Mama.”

Rin giggled. 

To Kagome’s surprise, Rin and Kohaku had flirted with the idea of a relationship, but had decided to remain friends. So Sesshomaru and Kagome had gone to Chiyoko to see if they could slow down the aging of their human daughter. Once more, the sorceress had performed what could only be called a miracle. She’d managed to make the girl age as a hanyou. It was out of her ability to make her age as a full demon, but her mate, a full demon who was a guard at their home, helped with that. 

Counting Rin and Shippo, they had seven children. Not counting the little one on the way. Kagome smiled and ran a hand over her flat stomach. After Rin and Shippo, there was their heir, Yukihiro whose name meant great blessings, then their son Kazemori, their daughter Megumi, then Kaori and finally their son Yukichika named in honor of Chiyoko who finally passed after many long years as a dear adviser to their family. 

Then there were their children’s mates. The oldest four had mates: Rin, Shippo, Yukihiro and Kazemori. Megumi brought the hanyou who was currently courting her. And then Rin’s three children and Shippo’s four. 

So, all together it was quite the group that ascended the shrine steps one week after Kagome’s last goodbye to her mother. One week, technically, since Kagome and  Sesshomaru had been married. She shot him a wicked grin, thinking of the ‘honeymoon’ they’d had once the day finally arrived again. It was why they were showing up a week later. 

Finally, the group of 21 reached the top of the steps. 

As they started to cross the courtyard, a woman came out of the house to stop them. 

“I’m sorry! The shrine is closed- Kagome?” Kagome’s mother, Satomi, gasped.

“Hi, Mama,” Kagome said with a smile. “I brought everyone to meet their grandmother. And great-grandmother.” Her smile widened as her mother just stared. “Mama, you remember my husband and mate, Sesshomaru, right?”

“Of course, dear,” Satomi said, trying to recover from seeing an older version of her daughter speaking to her of children and grandchildren.

“And you remember our two eldest, Rin and Shippo,” Kagome said gesturing to them as she began introducing everyone. 

Satomi smile wobbled, but she soldiered on. “Ah, would you all like to come in for some tea?”

Kagome giggled. “We knew we wouldn’t all fit in the house, Mama. Shippo, Kazemori. Would you two please start setting out the portable tables and chairs we brought? Megumi, Kaori, please get the tea started on the portable stove.” Kagome turned back to her mother. “We thought we surprise you with a little get together to celebrate the family being all together again.”

Satomi went inside to get her father and her son to bring them out to the celebration. When all three returned, the courtyard was transformed into a lovely seating area fit for a fancy restaurant. 

Introductions were made again for the sakes of Kagome’s brother and grandfather. Then she and her mother sat down next to each other to talk.

“My goodness, I’ve missed so much,” Satomi said. “It feels like just yesterday you were still wandering around with Inuyasha and Sango and Miroku. What happened to them, dear?”

Kagome gave her a sad smile. “Well, Inuyasha didn’t take well the information his dead love had been so vile. He became a bit of a recluse. He works in construction now and keeps to himself still. We do try to get him to come to family functions, but mostly he doesn’t show up. Sango and Miroku were married and had several children. They returned to the Slayer’s village after Kaede passed and with Kohaku and his wife they set out to repopulate and rebuild the village. They were successful too. 

“Oh, you’ll never guess who Kohaku married! A half-bat yokai girl named Shiori! She is so sweet and they were going to come with us, but Shiori is pregnant again and wasn’t up for the long trip. I’m sure we’ll have time to introduce you later. 

“Um, what else happened?” Kagome thought a moment then her face brightened. “Shippo went to a school with other kitsune and he did very well! Of course, by now all the children have been through the traditional school system a few times to keep their education up. Rin does very well in biology and especially her botany classes in university now. And-”

Satomi smiled and listened as Kagome spoke about each of her children’s accomplishments in turn. She sounded just like a proud mother, which Satomi realized she was. 

Sesshomaru sat back and watched the chaos around him and smirked. He never would have pictured such a future for himself, but he had no regrets.

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and let me know how this turned out! I haven't done oneshots before. :D


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